Grateful writer is grateful

Nov

2025

Today is About 40 Years Long…

I keep thinking it has to be almost bedtime, but it’s not. It’s not even dark here yet. It’s just about 4:30 PM here, which means that in addition to being a Monday, today is about 40 years long.

Why is today being about 40 years long?

Because this past weekend was three days long. Three days of Maker Faire, where I am apparently a local celebrity. Now, I had no IDEA of this. None. Not until someone came by the table to say hi, and told me that when she’d mentioned seeing me, her adult daughter gasped, “She’s going to be there?”

Readers, you could have knocked me over with a feather. And it wouldn’t have had to be a heavy feather either, because I am TIRED. That was… a lot. A lot of a lot. A lot is legion. And I was not expecting it.

When we left the house Friday, I said to Darling Editor, “Today is Field Trip day. I don’t expect to make any sales today. It’ll mostly be networking and outreach.”

WRONG!

I’m not sure why, but I had more traffic and more interest (and more sales) at Maker Faire than at any book related event I’ve done this year. There were people I spoke to on Sunday who said “Yeah, I was there/came by the table yesterday, but I couldn’t get close enough to say hi.” I’m sold out of some titles, and low enough on others that I didn’t think I’d go home with any. Orders have been placed, and will hopefully be here before the Winter Bazaar Renaissance Festival on December 6th, which is our next show.

Maybe I’ll be awake by then.

Promotions

Now Available!

A hero. A son of Eire. A reckoning long overdue.

Lorcan never asked for glory. Crowned a noble and hailed as a savior after crushing rebellion, he walks the marble halls adored by all—except himself. Haunted by prophetic visions, he sees not triumph, but torment: his family caged, his homeland threatened, and his cousin’s dark ambitions on the rise.

He knows where he must go.

Leaving behind the splendor of Empire, Lorcan returns to the emerald wilds of Eire, where ancient magic stirs and old loyalties are tested. Beside him stand his mates and his chosen kin—fierce, loyal, and willing to follow him into the heart of danger. But the blood that binds can also betray, and the most dangerous enemy may not be on the battlefield… but seated at his own family’s table.

Now Available!

Stories of Love and Desire

Join us on THEOReads, where you can find stories that celebrate love in all forms, and in all heat levels. Check out the November curated recommendations! (Click the graphics!)

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 4)

35962 / 90000 (39.96%)

Appearances

Enchanted Knights: Winter Bazaar
December 6th, 2025
Oviedo Mall
Oviedo, FL

***

Ravenflight Signing!
Spellbound Books
December 20th, 2025
12:00PM – 2:00 PM
Sanford, FL

2026 Appearances

ICFA
March 18-21th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Storyteller Summit
April 11th, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL.

***

Summer Lovin’ Book Festival
June 6th, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL.

***

Tanoshii Con
August 22nd – 23rd, 2026
Ocean Center Arena, Daytona Beach.

***

Smut Lovers Conference
September 16th – 20th, 2026
Orlando, FL

***

Page and Pen Festival
October 3rd, 2026
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Oviedo, FL.

Dec

2024

End of the Year Roundup

This will be my final blog post of 2024. Which… it’s been a YEAR, hasn’t it. Anyhow, time for the end of the year roundup.

Published in 2024

Valley of Shadows (Heir to the Firstborn, book 7)

Outlines in Development

Covert Saloon (three book series)
The Mentalist’s Cat (series of unknown length)
Children of the Swords (Five book series, sequel to Swords of Charlemagne)
Men of Mortal Seeming (Book 3 of The Artificer series)
Holy Orders (sequel to Heart’s Master)

Works in Outline

Iron and Silk (four book series)
Midnight Wars (two book series formerly known as Frog and Fae are Friends)
Tower of Light (standalone)
Flesh and Blood (Books 2 – 5 in a five book series)
The Coral Throne (Book 2 of The Sea Prince)
The Willow Sword (standalone)

Books in Process

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords

Manuscripts in Edits

The Sea Prince (The Sea Prince, book 1)
Morrigan’s Wrath (The White Raven, book 2)

Books under Consideration

Blood Bound (Flesh and Blood, book one)
Bonds of Blood and Steel (The Artificer, book 2, sequel to House of Sable Locks)
Sapphires and Gold (standalone, I think… there might be another one in this series.)

As of right now, Morrigan’s Heir is looking like an early 2025 release. I don’t have a date yet, but if that shows up before the end of the year, I’ll post it in my socials.

As of right now, I don’t have anything that I’ve committed to in 2025 with the exception of ICFA in March. I’m considering a show in May, but it’s an outdoor venue that would require us to break out the tent, and I’m not sure I’m up for that anymore. There are a couple of things toward the end of the year I know that I want to do, but I don’t have dates yet for them.

Once I’m done with King of Swords, I’ll be taking up one of those works in outline. Possibly The Coral Throne, since I think The Sea Prince will be out in 2025. However, Iron and Silk has been yelling at me (and people who I’ve let see the series plan have also been yelling at me.) It may be time to get to my Venetian-inspired Pirate Princess. It might be both — we’ll see once the current manuscript is done.

i wish you all the best for the end of the year. Be happy. Be healthy. Take some time for yourself if you can. And whatever you celebrate at this time of year, make it the best.

See you in 2025

Work in Progress

Tales from the Arena: King of Swords
(Tales from the Arena, book 3)

103442 / 150000 (68.96%)

Promotions

It’s time for Smashwords End of the year sale, and everything in my catalog will be 25% off! The sale starts Thursday the 12th and runs until January 1st.

Since my accounts still haven’t been merged yet, I have two Smashwords accounts, so If you want the Heir to the Firstborn books 1 through 6, you can go here. However, if you want Valley of Shadows (Heir to the Firstborn 7) or any other of my books, go here.

Dec

2023

That’s a Draft!

And at 2AM on Sunday morning, I posted the final wordcount of Valley of Shadows (after increasing it by 3000 words the day before.) That’s a draft, folks.

The Patreon is scheduled out until late January, so I’m projecting a release in early February, but possibly sooner. Once I see how edits go, I’ll have a better idea. I will say that I think the ending is a little weak and fluffy, and it might change. 2AM writing isn’t necessarily quality writing, after all.

Edits will start tonight — I already have my printout and two general notes on things to change. Cookiepocalypse, however… that starts tomorrow, and will continue for the rest of the week.

Last week, I said that I was considering taking the rest of the year off, and I’m going to do that. So this will be the last blog post until the New Year. I’ll still be active on social media — cookie pictures must be shared, after all. But there is one exception — I will no longer be found on Twitter/X. My account will be there, but all that you’ll find there after this week will be a redirect to my other socials. (For the record, Blusky, Mastodon, Facebook and Instagram.) The only reason I’m not deleting entirely is that I don’t want anyone to hijack my name there.

What will I be doing for the next three weeks? Other than baking? Edits. I have to write a blurb. Finalizing the book cover (which you’ll see when the blog comes back.) Business planning, and getting back to my research. And catching up on both reading and TV — I still haven’t seen Loki season 2, and I have to watch the New Who episodes. Basically? I’m refilling my tanks and resting my creative brain.

So, this will be the last message until 2024. Here’s hoping that you have a happy whatever you celebrate, that you hold your loved ones close, and that we all come back together in this virtual space in the New Year.

Love you all.

Works in Progress

Valley of Shadows
Heir to the Firstborn, Book 7

78617 / 78000 (100.79%)

Now on to edits!

Promotions!

The Smashwords End of the Year sale is coming up December 15th. My ENTIRE self-published catalog will be on sale for 25% off ONLY on Smashwords!

Now, because of the Draft2Digital/Smashwords merger, I have TWO author pages on Smashwords (actually, I have four, but two of them are from publishers and I have no control over those.) The two that I maintain will be combined at some point, but until then, the catalogs that will be on sale are here and here.

Nov

2022

It’s Still Monday.

So this totally counts as a Monday blog. Right?

Children of Dreams is now out, and I am officially taking a break until the end of the year. I’m holding The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath until January. I intend to spend the next month refilling my creative bucket, planning for next year, working on some edits, and doing some research.

The White Raven: Morrigan’s Wrath
(The White Raven, Book 2)

19677 / 90000 (21.86%)

Now, that being said, what am I doing?

Cleaning my house, that’s what. While doing my pre-Thanksgiving prep.

I’m both tired and bonkers. But the house has to be clean before guests arrive, and I have to have something to feed them, so there you go.

I am a little worried, though. My turkey has been in the refrigerator since last Wednesday, and it’s still a 16lb block of ice. I need to it thawed by the day after tomorrow so I can brine it. So… ummm… that’s a thing. And the guest of honor for Thursday’s dinner may need to have a long soak in the bathtub tomorrow.

I’m very pleased with the reception that Children of Dreams has had over the past week — the first review hit two days after the book released, and the reviewer loved it! It is, I think, a satisfying ending to the series, to know that readers are loving it.

It’s a good way to end the year.

Now, Cookiepocalypse is coming, so I will still be blogging. But the writing year is over for 2022. And it was a good one. Weird, but good.

On to 2023?

Nov

2021

Surprise! It’s a Convention!

Guess which romance writer whose blog you’re reading RIGHT NOW will be a guest at a convention starting THIS FRIDAY!

Yup. I was asked last week, and I’ll be a guest at virtual Chessiecon November 26th – 28th. Since it’s virtual, I don’t have to go to Maryland in November (yay! But also boo! because there are people I love in Maryland and doing it this way means no hugs.)

My schedule:

Friday, 6:00PM Eastern — Do Immortals Enhance or Detract From your Story?

Friday, 10:30PM Eastern — Reading. (Hrm… what to read?)

Saturday, 10:00AM Eastern — How Has Diversity Affected SF/F?

Saturday, 2:30 PM Eastern — Where is the Indigenous American Fantasy?

Saturday, 8:30 PM Eastern — Genre Mixing

Sunday, 10:00 AM Eastern — Your Universe, Your Gods

Sunday, 11:30 AM Eastern — Has Fantasy Lost its Wonder (moderating)

The convention will be held via Zoom and Discord, and panel links will be up on Friday.

In other news, Heir to the Firstborn: The Crossroads comes out next week. To celebrate, I’ve made Written in Water FREE all this week! You can grab a copy wherever ebooks are sold.

(And for some reason, WordPress isn’t letting be upload the ad graphic. Sigh… if it’s not one thing, it’s two things.)

Not much else is happening, mostly because it’s been a busy week, and about to be another busy week. Last weekend was the RWA National Convention, which was fantastic. And this weekend… well, there’s something involving a lot of cooking. And cleaning.

There might not be as many words as there should be this week… and definitely not as many in this post as there could be. There were some last week, but not many.

Heir to the Firstborn: The Way Home
(Heir to the Firstborn, book 6)

50198 / 150000 (33.47%)

If you celebrate this week, have a happy. If you’re traveling, stay safe.

In this time for expressing gratitude, know that I appreciate each and every one of you. Thanks for being on the other side of the internet.

Apr

2021

What a Week!!!!

Last week was… wow. Just… whiplash week!

It started Tuesday, when my computer crashed because of an Microsoft update that didn’t go as planned. Yes, that happens. I know. When I finally got the computer straightened out and go everything back up, part of chapter 17 and all of chapter 18 of Heir to the Firstborn were missing.

That’s when I learned that something else wasn’t going as planned.

My automatic saves to Dropbox weren’t saving. And hadn’t been, for about a week.

Now, my editing files are in Google Docs, so I had all of chapter 17, and could replace those missing words into the Scrivener file. But chapter 18 was irrevocable gone, so I started Wednesday planning to get to work on recreating those words.

Yeah… there were no words written on Wednesday, because this happened.

I posted my “where were you when you found out you had finaled?” story on social media (Answer? The shower!) And I’m still just over the moon about this, especially since Written in Water is the book that I pulled out of the 2020 RITA contest in protest. So having it final in the 2021 Vivian contest is just that much sweeter.

(And yes, I’m still giggling when a certain husband of mine comes up and sings “Finalist!”)

And on Thursday, I recreated all the words.

Heir to the Firstborn(Heir to the Firstborn, book 5)

64313 / 150000

So, last week was a pretty wild ride! And I don’t usually like roller coasters!

Nov

2020

Roger That. Receiving Loud and Clear.

Wings of AirHeir to the Firstborn, Book 4

122403 / 150000 (81.60%)

***

John Zebedee Meets the Witch Queen of Elfland

21147 / 30000 (70.49%)

***

NaNoWriMo Words

36754 / 50000 (73.51%)

The start of what would usually be a very busy week for me. If this was a normal Thanksgiving week, I’d have started cooking last Saturday, prepping for Thursday when my house would be full of people.

This year? We’re doing Zoomsgiving. Which will be fun, but it’s not the same. However, I’m grateful that we even have that much.

I suppose that makes sense to say. This is the week of giving thanks.

Now, I’m going to diverge from my usual just talking about my words today, and talk about someone else’s words. This morning, as I was drinking my coffee, I opened the newest issue of Real Simple magazine. I like this magazine — I like the recipes and the articles, and there’s usually something in each issue that I can use.

And today, there was something in the issue that resonated on a very deep level. It was a quote from Hoda Kalb’s book This Just Speaks to Me. She tells the story of a page at NBC, who responded to a compliment by saying “I received that.”

This blew my mind, and I had no idea why. It took me most of the day to realize why this simple phrase struck a chord. And I think it’s because I was raised Catholic. Giving and receiving are both a major part of ideal of the Sacraments. St. Augustine’s Prayer says, “May we become what we receive.”

We become what we receive. And what we receive, we can then share with others.

Okay, Liz. Where are you going with this?

Well, I’m thinking of everything I receive from you, my dear Reader. The feedback, the reviews, the emails…. I am grateful for all of what you have gifted to me over the years. I am grateful to all of you.

I receive that.

Please accept this in return — thank you. I appreciate you, more than you could ever possibly know.

Have a safe and a happy Thanksgiving.

Dec

2015

Missed yesterday, glad to not miss today!

Oops. There was no update last night. However, nothing happened yesterday. There was no baking, and there was no writing. There was, however, a small get together where we ate rather a lot of the cookies that I’d already baked.

All in all, a fun day.

And today, I woke up to the email that told me that Counsel of the Wicked has been named one of the Best of 2015 by Erotica for the Big Brain.

Honestly, there aren’t many ways to end out a year that are better than that!

Now, I have a mug of tea, a couple of cookies, and I’m not moving from this spot until Burden of Truth is done! (Well, okay. I might move. I have to make dinner. But draft today, darn it!)

Sep

2015

Wow…

What wow? Umm… this wow.

If you can’t see it, try this one.

Broke the top 100 for LGBT ebooks for Fantasy.

I am… awed. That’s what I am. Wow.

Thank you.

Mar

2015

Wow.

One of these days, someone is going to pinch me, and I’m going to wake up. Because I simply cannot believe that I get to live this life. I mean, I must have been extra special good the last time around or something to deserve this! First, we have House of Sable Locks being named a modern erotic classic. And now, this just happened:

This may very well be my first ever top 20 anything, and it’s for The Rape of Persephone.

Here’s the list in picture form:

Wow. I am…

Wow.

Thank you.

Grateful writer is grateful

Today is About 40 Years Long…

Promotions

Now Available!

Stories of Love and Desire

Work in Progress

Appearances

2026 Appearances

End of the Year Roundup

Work in Progress

Promotions

That’s a Draft!

Works in Progress

Promotions!

It’s Still Monday.

Surprise! It’s a Convention!

What a Week!!!!

Roger That. Receiving Loud and Clear.

Missed yesterday, glad to not miss today!

Wow…

Wow.

Works in Progress

Appearances

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